


Baroque

by Chellodello



Series: Lapidary [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Attempted Kidnapping, Edited to fit better in with canon, F/F, It goes about as well as you'd think, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-13 21:13:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4537575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chellodello/pseuds/Chellodello
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peridot doesn’t want to get her hopes up but she knows that the crystal gems have done <i>at least</i> one jailbreak before; so who's to say that thats not something they did on the regular? If she's lucky there won't even be singing this time.<br/>Or;<br/>Peridot is gem-napped, Pearl might go overboard trying to find her and Steven just wants a together meal of some kind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baroque

**Baroque **

_Adj_ /(bəˈrōk/

1\. An imperfect pearl 

2\. To be complex and beautiful, despite an outward irregularity. 

* * *

To say that Peridot was having a bad morning would be an understatement. She had been plucked off the shores of beach city during a routine patrol, like some sort of amateur, and thrown into a sack (a sack!) of all things. Then while she was knocked out whoever these clods were proceeded to take her limb enhancers, dump her in a containment cell and told her she was going to be pumped for information before most likely being shattered when they returned to homeworld.

Lovely.

Peridot groans and buries her head in her knees, trying to drown out all the noise around her. To be completely honest she would find all of this incredibly ironic if it wasn’t scaring the mineral out of her.

A little over a year ago she had been on the other side of the containment field barking out orders and generally trying to wrestle control of her vessel from her slab of an escort. Now she was separated from her friends, stuck _in_ the cell with the buzz of the containment field giving her a headache, going toward what was most likely her death.

 _‘That’s some poetic justice for you Dot._ ’ She thinks bitterly to herself.

It was a lot to take in before breakfast.

Oh yeah, breakfast. Steven was going to be so upset. She had finally agreed to attend one of his silly together breakfasts despite the fact that the act of eating was both strange to unwanted to her. But it made the boy, gemling, whatever it was that Steven was, happy so she was going to bite the bullet and go. Peridot doesn’t want to think of how upset he’d be when he realized she’d never be returning.

A dark, but significant, part of her wonders if the crystal gems would just assume she’d abandoned them, that she had double crossed them after all and was now headed back to homeworld cackling as she went. Peridot wouldn’t blame them for thinking that, she’d have been suspicious too had it not been herself in question. She had betrayed the Diamond Authority after all, what was to stop her doing it again.

Peridot turns her head and takes in the gem in charge of this ridiculous affair with an all-around annoyed expression.

Her baguette cut gem sat gleaming on her chest signaling her as a non-service class technician, most likely some kind of tourmaline; the glow of the grid made it hard to tell for sure.

Either way she was prattling on about the charges that would be brought against her when they returned to homeworld, aloof in the way that you’re supposed to be with prisoners, the way Peridot herself had never mastered.

How boring.

“...defecting as well as aiding and abetting wanted fugitives of the Authority. That’s not even including the hundreds, possibly thousands, of counts of scrambling, redirecting and otherwise destroying a year’s worth of transmissions and robonoid information gathering attempts at establishing communication with the gem colony.” If Peridot was being honest with herself she’s actually rather impressed with the amount of chaos she’d been able to create in such a short time. “Am I forgetting anything?” Her captor sneers.

 _‘Ugh, please tell me I didn’t talk like that before.’_ Peridot thinks bitterly, knowing that she had. Which brought her back to the irony of it all.  A year ago she had been in Tourmaline shoes: talking trash to down-trodden prisoners about their mistakes and shortcomings. Now, now she was the one taking the tongue lashing and she was strangely happy for it.

The green gem contemplates bashing her gem against the wall in frustration, but somehow refrains. Don’t get her wrong, Peridot doesn’t want to die, she might be a goodie two shoes crystal gem now, but she’s not so selfless as to martyr herself just for the fun of it. But to think that she was the same gem she was only a year ago, such a short time for a gem, was stupid. And Peridot was anything but stupid.

Her time on Earth had opened her eyes to what it was to really live and if she was going to get shattered because of that than fine: she was glad to have a minute of something wonderful in a lifetime of nothing special.

If Garnet were here she’d tell her to stay quiet and not reveal anything. But Garnet isn’t here so she runs her mouth instead. What's the worst they could do to her at this point? “I also destroyed three warp pads, tampered with cluster progress and an additional Red Eye.” Actually she hadn’t done it alone but Tourmaline didn’t need to know that. Most of her missions had been done with Pearl by her side but Peridot wasn’t about the drag her name into this mess if she could avoid it.

Oh crud,  Pearl.

She was going to be... Upset? Sad? Livid? Heartbroken? Well Peridot isn't sure what emotion the tall gem would feel over her assumed death or defection but she wanted to at least spare her any more trouble by keeping her out of it as much as she could. It was the least she could do for the gem that had given her so much. Thinking about Pearl made this whole being captured and sentenced to death thing extra hard to deal with so she wills herself not to think of her right now.

“Ah yes. That.” Tourmaline rolls her eyes and makes a note on her pad. “Any _one_ of these offenses are punishable by execution; you’ve managed to amass quite a few more than one.” Somewhere in the ship there is a loud shifting sound that she can’t place; they were probably getting ready to lift off. Fabulous.

“What can I say, I’m scrappy.” Amethyst would have high-five'd her for that.

If the other gem feels anything about her statement, amusement, annoyance or otherwise, she doesn’t let it show. Instead she carries on like Peridot hadn't spoken at all. “The higher ups _might_ be willing to overlook a few of those if you play nice and agree to become their informant on the state of the cluster as well as the status of any gem life still remaining on the pl—”

“Sorry, not interested.” Peridot cuts her off before she can get any further into her spiel which was probably a bunch of lies anyway. There was no chance of that happening. She’d rather death thank you very much. Peridot was done being anyone’s servant: she couldn’t go back to that life, not after Earth. And whats more there was no chance Yellow Diamond would let her live if she returned to Homeworld.

That, at least, earns her an eye tick from her captor. “I don’t understand what happened to you. Your file indicated that you were a standard issue third generation peridot. No outstanding defects or flaws. A relatively even temperament, baring a few outbursts in training, but ultimately docile enough to be stationed off planet. The scan we did of your gem when you were unconscious showed no obvious tarnishing or cracking.”

At that Peridot jumps to her feet, anger and indignation flooding her system. She's not used to using her own feet, feels so small and useless without her limb enhancers, and behind the yellow glow of the grid Tourmaline doesn't seem to be impressed with her diminutive form. “You idiots messed with my gem?!” The urge to touch her gem was strong, to make sure it wasn't mussed up someone how, and she feels extra exposed without her visor on. But giving reaction would be admitting weakness and she has no intention of giving Tourmaline that satisfaction. Tiny victories.

No one touched her gem unless she wanted them too; to mess with someone’s gem was— it was terrible. Her gem was literally her entire being. The idea of someone just groping at it blindly, trying to access her very core with no regard to her autonomy made her sick.

Tourmaline looks surprised that she was surprised. “Of course we did, you’re a service gem and a prisoner.” As if that meant it was just okay to violate someone's gem. Sometimes Peridot can't believe she ever accepted this drivel.

The ship jostles once again and this time with enough force that it throws Peridot off balance and sends her banging into the wall. _'Ugh why is everything so terrible I hate this dumb ship, I hate it I hate it!' I didn't save Earth for this!"_  It takes all her self control not to yell this out loud.

Her captor isn’t concerned with her safety in the least. “Overall it seems as if there were no indications of you being baroque until you were stranded on this cruddy planet. If pressed to make a theory I’d wager that most likely the prolonged stress and isolation destabilized your disposition enough to draw out any latent deficiencies. It’s actually rather interesting; I might even write a report on it.”

“Don’t call me that!” Peridot punches at the the grid and receives a strong jolt of the current through her entire body for efforts. It hurts sure, but the sting of that word hurts more. She hated that term, hated it. Baroque gems were trash, useless, defective. And since defecting from Yellow Diamond Peridot hadn’t felt like any of that: for the first time in her life she felt strong and with purpose. She felt needed.

But that wasn't what made her hate that word so much. Who cared about what homeworld thought of her now, who cared if this low-luster grunt thought she was defective? The thing that made every mineral in Peridot's body thrum with anger at the term was the fact that that was what they had called the pearls when they rebelled.

All gems heard the story at some point in their lives. It was cautionary tale of how a lone baroque pearl, let run free off planet without proper supervision, had reached out and compelled all other pearls to ignore their duties and perimeters and to take up arms against homeworld in the rebellion. It did not end well for most pearls, though no one knew what happened to the lone baroque pearl. Once it terrified her, there weren't many gems ranked below peridots and the possibility that they could be regarded even worse was horrifying, but now the story made her chest tighten in affection and understanding. That baroque pearl had been Pearl. Her Pearl.

Pearl was many things to Peridot: her teacher, a pillar of strength, a nagging pain in the ass, more often than not her partner in crime, the most beautiful gem she’d ever known. But baroque… she was never baroque. And the way that Pearl made her feel, like she was enough, like she was worth the effort, didn’t seem baroque to her. If felt like the most perfect thing in the world. She could see why Garnet would defy all of homeworld for this feeling.

Tourmaline continues her tirade as if talking to herself rather than at Peridot, indifferent to her struggles. “I personally don’t understand what She was thinking sending a service gem to do a _real_ gem’s work, but who am I to question the Diamond Authority? Not like it las—huh?” With a great shuddering sound the whole containment center jerks sending Peridot flat on her butt yet again.

"Whatever half faceted stooge you have piloting this thing should go back to the academy until they know what they're doing!" Peridot admonishes. She maybe clod who gets gem-napped and thrown into a sack; but she knew how to pilot a ship and this wasn't how to do it.

The overhead lights flicker and the warning alarms screech.

Years of maintaining her own vessel told her that that particular alarm-tone meant that the ship's internal stabilization had been compromised. Likely the security measures were about to go down as well. “Do you even know whats going on? Don’t you know the first thing about managing a vessel you clod?!”  Peridot barks out partly in anger, mostly in amusement. Without rerouting the stabilization fluxes into the backup grid there was no way this ship would make it out of Earth’s atmosphere let alone survive deep space. Something was happening and unless Tourmaline fixed it they were sitting ducks; not that she was going to tell the other gem that.

Something low and warm churns in her gut: something that felt dangerously like hope.

“No one is asking you!” The short haired technician presses into her gem and a visor not dissimilar to Peridot’s own missing one materializes over her eyes. The screen glows pink with schematics that only she can see. “This is lieutenant Tourmaline located in sector 3; now commencing a lockdown of the prisoner containment bay.”

“Hate to break it to you but that not going to work. If the issue is internal then there's nothing a level c shut down can do about it.” She can hear the rhythmic sound of _something_ being destroyed down the hall as if to confirm her diagnostic. Peridot’s never been a graceful winner and isn’t going to start now. Seeing the look of horror on her captors face she can’t help grinning and prodding more. “Looks like nothing going to work in a few minutes. I might be a service gem but at least I know how to run a ship. Congratulations on doing such a good job on that by the way."

“SHUT UP!” the other gem yells “Control room Alpha do you read me? What is the status of the ship? Control do you read me? I’m not getting any diagnostics from the rest of the crew, REPORT NOW.”

The only sound in the containment bay is the irritating buzz of the grid and the loud, almost soothing now, sound of something beating against the reinforced metal door sealing the room off from the rest of the ship. Oh, and that is _definitely_ the anguished sound of gems being defeated. Peridot doesn’t want to get her hopes up, but she knows that the crystal gems have done _at least_ one jailbreak before, who's to say that’s not a thing they did on the regular?

Then the intercom bursts into sound and Peridot smiles.

“Hey there, sorry about the delay boss lady this is Big Am’ in the control room what can I do for you today?”

Never in her life has Peridot been so happy to hear Amethyst’s big mouth.

“Oh is Peridot there?” Steven chirps enthusiastically over the loudspeaker. It occurs to her that they can't see her in the containment sector; they might not be able to patch into the camera feed at all. She doesn't share this information with Tourmaline: The less she knew the better. “Hi Peridot! Hi other gem! How are you all doing today?”

Peridot lets out a laugh that’s more an expulsion of nerves than happiness. “Better now!” They came for her. The crystal gems came for her. How weird was that? Vowing to deal with that emotional bombshell later, Peridot resorts back to her natural state: bossing people around. “Could be even better if you figured out how to disengage this containment grid though.”

Amethyst laughs. “Working on it P2!”

“Will you be quiet!!? This is a Diamond Authority protected vessel! Get out of my ship!!” Tourmaline demands with horror on her face. Peridot sadly knows the feeling, Amethyst and Pearl had done a wonder on her ship too; who knows what kind of trouble they could cause with Steven there was well.

With a flick of her wrist the screen from her visor is displayed before her, the larger display showing nothing but vacant hallways and corridors. “All remaining gems are to split defense efforts between extracting the intruders from the control room and defending the containment bay!”

The only feed with any gems in it is the feed in the control room that features Steven and Amethyst blowing raspberries at the camera and the feed just before the containment bay that shows a single ruby huddling near the door watching with an almost painful alertness. Peridot would feel bad if they hadn’t kidnapped her. “L-l-lieutenant! There are at least two unidentified gems spotted en route to sector 3.” Before any more information can be relayed there is a pale flicker near the camera and then the monitor goes dark. A muffled scream can be heard in the hall just after.

“Ruby? Ruby do you read-”

A huge fist shaped dent appears in the metal of the door. Tourmaline, that aloofness from before gone in the face of a real challenge, stumbles back into the containment grid her uniform singeing her in the process. She yelps and Peridot can't help but goad. "Not so fun is it?"

Over the intercom Amethyst laughs. “Whoops. Guess I can’t figure out how to turn that thing off. Why is all the new gemtech so hard to understand?”

Peridot rolls her eyes fondly. “Just get Pearl to do it!” Why said gem was letting Amethyst have free range over the control deck when they both knew she could easily interface with it and have control of the entire ship was beyond her. Tourmaline glares at the ceiling but does nothing other than pull out what looks to be some kind of bladed hoop from her gem, silently calculating something as she readies herself for when the door comes down.

Because there is no doubt about it at this point, that door is coming down.

“Oh Pearl’s not with us.” Steven says casually. “She was real worried about you.”

Ignoring the flustered feeling the later statement gave her, she focuses on the former. Why on earth would Pearl not go with them to readjust the ship's’ systems? Where else could she possibly be? “Pfft worried? That's an understatement.” Amethyst snickers. “Just hold tight until the demolition crew gets there Peri, you’re gonna wanna see this.”

It is then that the reinforced metal of the door gives out; so does most of the frame that once held it in place. Several things happen at once: She hears Garnet yelling at her to stand back and scrambles to the back of her cell. Tourmaline curses and flings her weapon into the chaos and debris. There is a sickening clang of metal against something organic that makes Peridot’s stomach drop to her toes. She may or may not scream.

Peridot doesn’t know what she’ll do if Garnet was hurt in attempt to rescue her, she doesn’t want that kind of guilt on her hands. Just on the verge of panicking because there is no retaliating smash of fists coming from the billowing cloud of smoke, the once service gem creeps back to the opening of the cell, as close as the grid will let her, to see what is going on. Her panic is assuaged by her captor’s growl of frustration.

“Oh come on! You’ve got to be kidding me? You’re trying to tell me that a motley crew of leftover rocks are responsible for all of this?” When the dust clears Garnet is, in fact there, but the one standing in the middle of the pile of what use to be Tourmaline’s bladed hoops is Pearl; spear drawn, expression murderous, and completely blood free.

If Peridot had a heart it would skip a beat. Or five.

“Ohhhhhhhhh, you’re gonna get it now. P is not happy with you.” Amethyst, ever the lover of conflict, positively giggles over the intercom. "It's gonna go down!"

To her credit, Pearl says nothing. Her eyes dart to Peridot for one moment electrifying moment before returning, targeting really, onto the gem that stood between them. There is no doubt in Peridot’s mind that while Garnet had done the smacking down of walls it was Pearl who had cleared the way with the tip of her spear. 

Gems don’t bleed, not really. Any blood or fluids they made were an illusion to further cement them into the world they inhabited. When they are shattered any blood disappears along with anything else they’ve ever conjured up from their gem. The only thing left behind is a fine mist of glittering dust; thousands upon millions of tiny shards of what used to be a gemstone.

In the high lighting of the ship it is easy for all to see there’s not a speck of blood to be found anywhere on her. Pearl brilliantly glows with residue of countless gems glimmering against her already pale and opalescent skin. Peridot has always known that the ballerina has killed before; she was a veteran of an intergalactic war she was never designed to fight in after all, but it’s never really sunk in until now just what that meant.

“It’s over.” Garnet says positioning herself between Tourmaline and the containment field. She nods at Peridot and though no words are exchanged she feels strangely reassured that things would be okay. Knowing how accurate Garnet’s future vision could be, the fusion probably saw how this battle was going to end and it was not going to be in Tourmaline’s favor. Future vision was a bitch.  

“Let our friend go and we’ll go easy on you.” Peridot vaguely hears Steven speak over the ship’s intercom but she’s more concerned about the way that Tourmaline is reaching into her gem to materialize another hooped weapon. The green gem is pretty sure that no matter what Steven thought Pearl wasn't going to go easy on her.

“Fat Chance of that happening! Do you morons have any idea what you’ve done by commandeering this ship? This isn’t some wingding exploration mission like what your service-technician gem botched.” Peridot flinches. Wow, low blow.

“Be quiet.” Pearl speaks for the first time since breaking into the containment room. Her voice is eerily flat and devoid of the usual near panic that it normally carried. She dodges the projectiles that her adversary is throwing at her with ease, each step calculated and precise as if this was a well-known dance. Peridot finds it painfully easy to imagine what she must have been like in the war, rail-thin and brandishing a sword she was never meant to hold, taking down gems three times her size with a single minded focus. 

Tourmaline seemingly has no self-preservation instinct and does not, in fact, be quiet. “Yellow Diamond is going to know what happened here! The whole Armada is going to come down on this disgusting planet and for what?! Because you had to rescue some baroque peridot that can’t fulfill her only function—”

Two things register to Peridot at once.  

The first being Garnet, deciding that waiting for Amethyst and Steven to shut off the containment field would take too long, punches through the control panel mounted on the wall. With little preamble the annoying buzzing of the yellow particles stop and Peridot is finally free of her confinement.

The second is that without the grid in her way she has a clear view of Pearl shoving her spear through the center of Tourmaline’s gem. The pink gem gives a great gasp and all the hoops she had been hurling plummet to the floor, dissipating before they have a chance to reach it.

Peridot can only stare in awe at the scene before her, unable to actually get to her feet let alone leave the cell. Without the assistance of a healer Tourmaline would be lucky to remain functional from such a devastating blow to her very core. Pearl, however, isn't interested in giving her the chance.

“Don’t call her that.”

With a sickening crunch Pearl sharply twists her spear, completely shattering the technician where she stood. Peridot had expected it to be a more brutal affair, some kind of loud noise or explosion to accompany the end of a life, but there isn’t. Tourmaline just makes one more choked aborted sound and  then she’s gone; dissipating into a gentle rain of thousands of glittering gem particles that coat the tall gem from head to toe; a physical indicator of her victory.

In that moment Pearl glimmers and shines more beautiful and deadly than any Diamond could ever hope to be. It literally takes Peridot's breath away.

This was all for her. This act of beautiful savagery was on her behalf, to save her life.

Holy shit.

Peridot's mind, always on always churning away at something, was running a mile a minute taking in just what this all meant. Tourmaline was right; this wasn’t going to go unnoticed by Yellow Diamond. A service gem, her escort and a wishy-washy informant going missing was one thing; all kinds of accidents could happen to such a small crew traveling through such long distances in space without the aid of a warp pad. But a whole ships' worth of gems suddenly going missing after landing on Earth? That was going to raise flags.

Big flags. War Flags.

All of this for someone who had been told their entire existence that they were only worth what they could do for others, for the empire— it boggled the mind and for a moment Peridot simply cannot compute.

Pearl is saying something to Garnet who politely gives them space by starting to bubble any of the larger shards remaining while waiting for the others to join them.

“—eridot? Peridot?”

Oh yeah, that was her. Pearl is kneeling beside her, a strange look on her face as if not knowing if her presence was allowed, as if Peridot might be afraid of her after all of that. She makes a move to touch her, but stops short.

“Are you okay?”

There are a million things she is feeling right now and okay is not among them. Terrified about the future? Yes. Absolutely dumbfounded that someone, let alone 4 someones, would go to such efforts to save her? Hell yes. Completely and utterly gem over heels in love with the a pearl that literally killed someone who called her baroque? Definitely.

Peridot is not good at expressing herself so instead of articulating that, what comes out is; “Okay? Okay? Am I okay she asks? Of course I’m not okay! I was taken prisoner by that sorry excuse of a technician and I had to listen to her rant on and on about stars know what and then you come barreling through here like some kind of crazy gem! Are you out of your mind Pearl? Storming a modern gem ship with just your fists and a good feeling? Clods, clods all of you!”

At her outburst Pearl’s face positively _melts_ into a watery grin; the last bits of whatever dark practical place she placed herself in to battle and kill so easily, disappearing from her expression completely. Eyes damp, nose runny, and making a strange choked hiccuping sound Pearl sinks to her knees and throws her arms around Peridot, peppering kisses on her face. Instinctively Peridot winds her own arms around Pearl, steadying them both. It feels too raw with her unenclosed arms, her fingers feel every bump of her spine with unreal clarity, it hurts. She holds on.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I took so long.” Because for Pearl it was never a matter of if she’d come and rescue Peridot, it was a matter of how fast she’d do it. Peridot doesn’t know what to say to that she just slumps bonelessly into the older gems hold, suddenly exhausted by everything that transpired today. “You’re not hurt are you? Steven will be here soon, he can heal you if you-” She pauses, just noticing the lack of technology on her arms. "Oh Peridot, your arms!"

“It's fine.” It's not though, she feels off balance and exposed, but it's better than being shattered. She tells her as much, muttering her secret into Pearl’s bony shoulder. She was weak even with the prosthetic she doesn't want to think about how useless she'll be to the team without them. “Tourmaline messed with my gem when I was knocked out.” Peridot hadn’t meant to say that, she wasn’t going to tell the crystal gems about it; she didn’t want to burden them further after all they had went through on her behalf today. But it just comes tumbling out of her as if admitting such a troubling event to Pearl was the most natural thing in the world.

Pearl pulls away to meet her eyes and Peridot is only vaguely ashamed of the way her body instinctively tries to follow her. “Any damage?”

“I don’t think so.”

“May I?” She’s not entirely sure what she’s asking permission for but Peridot can’t really think of anything she’d deny her, not after all of this, so she nods once in affirmation. With the utmost care Pearl closes her eyes and clinks their gems together.

Peridot has never fused with anyone; but she imagines that the sudden connection and closeness that radiates from the point of contact must be comparable. Her limbs feel heavy and warm all the way down to her numbing fingertips. She can feel the other gem softly sorting through her head, probing only at the surface, not invading her thoughts or feelings, only making sure there had been no foul play at her core.

The thought of Tourmaline, or anyone really, invading her gem had filled her with disgust and revulsion. But Peridot can practically taste the care in the gentle probing of Pearl’s consciousness against hers. There’s no one else she’d trust more with her very being.

“No damage.” Pearl announces but doesn’t move away. Her long fingers find their way to her hair, lightly petting back the obnoxious strands that will never stay down. Her touches are delicate as if Peridot might break, as if she was something to be held with care.

“You shouldn’t have come.” Peridot murmurs. “Tourmaline was right. They’ll come for sure now moron.”

“They’d have come eventually.” Pearl doesn’t even entertain the thought that they wouldn’t come for her, it probably hadn’t even occurred to them as an option, which is a heavy thought in its own right. “When you didn’t come back from patrol, for together breakfast, we knew something was wrong. I—” Pearl’s face bleeds teal in embarrassment. “I may have panicked and gone a bit overboard.”

“You think?” Peridot scoffs and plucks a shard of gem from Pearl’s hair. With absent fingers she bubbles it, sending it back to the temple with the others; a second nature action at this point. “I’m glad you did.”

‘ _’m glad they’re dead’_ she thinks but doesn’t say. She’s pretty sure she can read it in her tone anyway. Peridot has never been one for undeserved pity and she'd be lying that she would lose any sleep over tourmaline's loss. 

“This is all very morbid.” Pearl notes ryely but just continues to smile and pet her like she hung the sun in the sky; which makes no sense at all because all Peridot did today was get kidnapped and sit around accepting her inevitable death. Some crystal gem she was. It was easy to think that she was being selfless and self-sacrificing at the time, but now that it was all over and done with it just seemed like she was too scared to fight. So much for not being baroque.

Sensing her train of thought Pearl’s expression turns serious and she holds Peridot’s face still in her hands. Her pale blue eyes bore into her own visor-less dark ones with a conviction that the green gem will never have on her own. “You’re not baroque Peridot. I don’t care what Tourmaline or homeworld or anyone else tells you; you’re not baroque.”

“But—”

“No buts. Absolutely not. If you’re baroque than so am I. So are all of us. No more of that, promise me?”

Peridot doesn’t quite believe her, but by the diamond, does she want to. And maybe someday she will. Maybe one day she’ll think she’s worth commandeering an entire ship for, but today it’s enough that she had friends who thought she was worth that trouble. “Always so bossy. You think that just because you shatter a couple dozen gems you get to demand things. Typical.”

The other gem rolls her eyes fondly. “You’re such a brat.”

Peridot will blame her boldness on the dying adrenaline rush later. “But I’m your brat apparently.” She mummers sinking back into the warmth of Pearl’s shoulder. It’s not even comfortable, so bony and all angles, but it’s the only place she really wants to be right now. Maybe she is damaged after all.

“Watching you two is actually disgusting. Right Garnet?” Both gems jump and knock heads at the sound of Amethyst fake barfing in the doorway to the cell they were huddled in. Peridot still has a headache from the drone of the containment field and the concussion she probably just got was not making it any better.

“Nauseating.” Their leader intones. Like she can talk, Peridot remembers when Garnet, and all her parts was separated and kidnapped very clearly.

“At least we’re not singing unlike some people.” Peridot bites back but there is no venom. Garnet just quirks a grin and give her a thumbs up. Hopeless, all of them, hopeless.

Suddenly there is a Steven shaped mass barreling into and hugging at her middle. All three gems are sent sprawling into a pile as Steven laughs. "Peridot! You're okay! Hey you have fingers! You're so small!"

“Steven! Be careful!” Pearl mothers' from the bottom of the pile. Predictably enough the gemling does not comply.

“Pearl and Peridot sitting in a tree, S-I-T-T-I-N-G~!” He sings and Peridot might not be an aficionado on earth ballads but she’s pretty sure that’s not how the song is supposed to go.

“Hey, what have I told you about putting your touch stumps where they don’t belong?” the green gem chastises lightly but makes no move to move the half human boy. This may or may not have something to do with the fact that her position in the pile leaves her plastered to Pearl’s front. Hey, Peridot never claimed to be a morally upstanding gem.

Steven pouts. “Aw, but you didn’t care when it was Pearl’s touch stumps touching you!”  

Peridot kinda want to sink into the floor and die. Amethyst might actually rupture something from the force of her cackling and even Garnet snorts. Pearl on the other hand turns into an icicle of embarrassment and shimmies out from under the pile, bolting to her feet. Once again Peridot mourns the loss of her visor as her face smacks into the floor of the ship.

“WHO'S READY TO GO HOME?” Pearl squeaks out in a voice that is almost high pitched enough to rival Peridot's own. The young boy scrambles to his feet elbowing her organs in the process.

"Ugh."

“Just in time for together dinner!!”

Peridot rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling in disbelief.  This was her life now: Kidnapping in the morning, incredibly intimate post-murder petting in the afternoon, and processed sugars and carbohydrates in the evening. She’s officially gone native. Gross.

From the corner of her eye she sees Steven pushing the two gems that would actually eat said dinner toward the exit, prattling on about his menu selection for this extra special occasion. They really should be doing an additional sweep of the ship; make sure that there are no other gems hiding on board or worse the ship was auto-transmitting a signal back to homeworld.

But in light of everything all Peridot wants to do is watch her friends shove whatever monstrosity constitutes 'together dinner' down their throats. What was up with that? 

“Ready to go home?” Pearl is standing before her, hand outstretched and waiting for an answer. She still has microscopic shards of gem dust in her hair and the image of her dispassionately running her spear through someone was likely to remain with Peridot for a long, long time; but her current expression is soft and fond and Peridot is still having a hard time understanding how that look can be for her.

With the smallest, most private, smile Peridot lays her tiny, so tiny so strange, fingers in Pearl's hand. There is something unsaid going on here and she's not entirely sure what it is, it'll come out in the wash eventually, it always does. Right now Peridot just wants to go home. 

"Let's get out of this dump." If Peridot forgets to mention that as long as Pearl was there to stand beside her she felt like she was home, then, well, _whoops_.

There was always next time.

**Author's Note:**

> Like every fic I write, this was only supposed to be a short drabble and now here we are 5000+ words later. This comes from both my love of kidnapping/rescue fics and the need to write Pearl being both murderous and adorable. A nod of credit goes to [this ](http://otpdisaster.tumblr.com/post/104930338090/person-a-being-held-hostage-in-a-fortress-and)prompt for putting the idea into my head; though I did spin it to fit my needs quite a bit.
> 
> Thank you guys so much for reading and I'd love to hear your opinions in the comments!!!


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